System and method for collecting and providing resource rate information using resource profiling

ABSTRACT

A computer system and method is disclosed for collecting resource rate information associated with a plurality of resource profiles and providing resource rate statistical data for a specific resource profile via a web-based interface. Each resource profile is defined from hierarchical profile selections to identify a job category, and each job category has one or more skills associated therewith. A database maintains the resource profiles and associated resource rate information. The resource rate information is collected from a variety of sources, including business entities that interface with the database to upload actual resource rate information (e.g., actual salaries, wage rates and other compensation information) for one or more resource profiles associated with the business entity.

This application is a continuation of, and incorporates by reference forany purpose the entire disclosure of, U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/128,751, filed Apr. 24, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,698,146, titledSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COLLECTING AND PROVIDING RESOURCE RATE INFORMATIONUSING RESOURCE PROFILING.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a computer system and methodfor collecting human resource compensation and cost rate information,and specifically to a computer system and method for associatingcollected resource rate information with non-prose skills resourceprofiles to provide statistical data on resource rates and costs.

2. Description of Related Art

One of the most precious commodities and significant budget items forany business entity is the labor resources employed by the businessentity. The labor market is a competitive and evolving market, whichrequires both businesses and workers to remain informed as to thecurrent business trends and worker needs. In order to retain full-timestaff or to engage qualified temporary workers, while remainingcompetitive and cost effective in the market place, businesses mustprovide a compensation package to workers that is neither above norbelow the current market rate.

In the past, it has been difficult to ascertain the current market ratefor specific workers due to the selective collection of rate informationand the unsophisticated categorization of workers. For example, onecommon method of obtaining market rate information is a survey. However,most surveys group workers into broad categories and focus on specificsegments of the market, which often results in inaccurate and misleadingmarket rate information for a specific worker with a specific set ofskills and a specific amount of experience.

As another example, market rate information can be collected usingclassified advertisements and categorizing the advertised positionsusing key words within the classified advertisements. However, manycompanies use different words for the same type of position, andtherefore, the use of key words alone does not cover all of thepossibilities throughout the industry. In addition, classifiedadvertisement may not provide a large enough pool of market information,since many positions are filled in-house, through recruiters or throughstaff supplementation providers. Furthermore, the advertised salary orwage rate may not be the final negotiated salary or wage rate, andtherefore, using classified advertisements as the only source of marketrate information may skew the statistical data below the actual marketrate.

Therefore, what is needed is a computer system that collects resourcerate information from a variety of sources, including actual market ratesources, and associates the resource rate information with specificresource profiles to provide accurate resource rate information forspecific skill sets and business experiences. In addition, what isneeded is a computer system that calculates and provides configurablestatistical resource rate information for specific skills sets andexperiences to a requestor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To overcome the deficiencies of the prior art, embodiments of thepresent invention provide a computer system and method for collectingresource rate information associated with a plurality of resourceprofiles, each resource profile being a three-tiered hierarchicalprofile defined from hierarchical profile selections to identify a jobcategory and each hierarchical profile having one or more skillsassociated therewith. In one embodiment, the hierarchical profileselections include at least a business sector selection, a businessarena selection based on the business sector selection and a businessfamily selection based on the business arena selection. A databasemaintains the resource profiles and associated resource rateinformation. A web-based interface to the computer system provides webpages to users to solicit the resource profile and resource rateinformation. Subsequent web pages are selected based upon user responsesentered in previous web pages.

According to further embodiments of the present invention, the resourcerate information is collected by business entities interfacing with thedatabase to upload actual resource rate information (e.g., actualsalaries, wage rates and other compensation information) for one or moreresource profiles associated with the business entity into the database.The resource profiles define the job category and skills associated withone or more workers (full-time, part-time or temporary) the businessentities employ. The database stores all of the business entity resourceprofiles and associated resource rate information. In furtherembodiments, the resource rate information can be supplemented fromother sources, such as jobs available at the business entities,periodicals, Internet job board sites and job fair publications.

In still further embodiments of the present invention, the computersystem calculates and provides statistical resource rate data (e.g.,average wage rate and standard deviation) for specific resourceprofiles. The computer system calculates the statistical data using allresource profiles stored in the database that match resource criteriaentered by a requestor. The determination of whether a particular storedresource profile matches entered resource criteria is made usingmatching criteria. For example, the computer system can use only thosestored resource profiles that exactly match the specific resourcecriteria entered by the requestor or can use stored resource profilesthat match up to a certain hierarchical profile selection or skills setassociated with the resource criteria. The requestor can modify thespecific resource criteria based upon a number of parameters (e.g.,hierarchical profile selection, skills set, geographical area, industry,etc.) to narrow or broaden the amount of resource rate informationincluded within the statistical data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosed invention will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, which show sample embodiments of the inventionand which are incorporated in the specification hereof by reference,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a high-level functional view of the resource profiling andstatistical resource rate provisioning process involved in the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary network diagram of a computer system implementingthe resource profiling and statistical resource rate provisioningprocess of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a source diagram illustrating exemplary sources of theresource profile information and resource rate information stored in thedatabase of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary functional view illustrating a web-basedinterface to the computer system for creating a resource record storingboth resource profile information and resource rate information;

FIGS. 5A-5H are exemplary screen shots illustrating sample web pagesthat are displayed during the resource profile creation process;

FIG. 6A illustrates an example of a user interface for entering variousresource rate information through the use of resource rate fields andresource rate selection data;

FIG. 6B is an exemplary screen shot of a sample web page that can bedisplayed during the resource rate creation process;

FIG. 7 is a database structure view illustrating a table-driven formatfor storing the various resource profile fields and resource profileinformation in a hierarchical and relational manner;

FIG. 8 is a database structure view illustrating the interrelationbetween the different types of resource profile information stored inthe resource record;

FIG. 9 is a database structure view illustrating a table-driven formatfor storing the various resource rate fields and resource rateinformation in a hierarchical and relational manner;

FIG. 10 is a database structure view illustrating additional resourcerate fields and the interrelation between the various types of resourceprofile information and resource rate information stored in the resourcerecord;

FIG. 11 is a data flow diagram illustrating a resource tool for creatingresource records, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary steps for creating aresource record, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary steps for enteringresource profile information and resource rate information, inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a data flow diagram illustrating a statistical tool forcalculating and providing statistical data related to one or moreresource records, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 15A-15D are exemplary screen shots illustrating sample web pagesthat can be displayed during the statistical data query and displayprocess;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary steps for calculating andproviding statistical data related to one or more resource records, inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a data flow diagram illustrating a maintenance tool forupdating resource records, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 18 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a sample web page thatcan be displayed to update resource records; and

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary steps for updatingresource records, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The numerous innovative teachings of the present application will bedescribed with particular reference to exemplary embodiments. However,it should be understood that these embodiments provide only a fewexamples of the many advantageous uses of the innovative teachingsherein. In general, statements made in the specification do notnecessarily delimit any of the various claimed inventions. Moreover,some statements may apply to some inventive features, but not to others.

A labor resource (hereinafter referred to generally as a resource) is aworker employed or otherwise retained by a business entity to performservices for wages. The resource can be employed on a full-time basis,part-time basis, temporary basis or as part of a project. Each resourcepossesses skills, some or all of which are applicable to the job forwhich the wages are paid. Therefore, there is a direct relationshipbetween the skills required for a job and the wages paid for the job.Quantifying the specific skills related to the job and associating thoseskills with the wages paid for the job is accomplished using embodimentsof the present invention. Further embodiments of the present inventionenable the calculation and provisioning of statistical wage-relateddata.

FIG. 1 is a high-level functional view of the resource profiling andresource rate provisioning process involved in the present invention.Resource data 15, including specific job-related skills and wageinformation associated with a particular resource, is collected by adata warehouse repository 30 from a variety of sources 10 a . . . 10 n.For example, the resource data 15 can be collected from individualresumes 10 a, periodicals 10 b (e.g., newspapers, magazines, etc.),Internet job boards 10 c at job fairs 10 d, seminars 10 e, businessentities 10 f and any other source 10 n of resource data 15.

The resource data 15 collected by the data warehouse company 30 isorganized in a hierarchical and relational manner to facilitate accurateresource profiling based upon resource skills, resource industry andresource experience. In addition, the resource data 15 associates theresource profile with specific wage (rate) information for that resourceprofile based upon industry, geographical area and source 10 type. Therate information can be further categorized and relationally organizedto provide inclusive compensation information pertaining to wage rates,benefits provided and expenses paid.

All of the resource data 15 collected at the data warehouse repository30 can be aggregated and output to a data requestor 50 in the form ofstatistical data 25. The requestor 50 can be an individual 50 a,business entity 50 b or any other requestor 50 n that is authorized toreceive the statistical data 25. The statistical data 25 includes ananalysis of a compilation of wage information associated with aparticular resource profile defined by the requestor 50. The statisticaldata 25 provided to the requestor 50 can include any type ofwage-related data, such as the average pay rate across a geographicarea, the pay rate range, the average dollar amount of benefitsprovided, the average expenses paid, the standard deviation of the aboveand any other statistical data requested by the requestor.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, the datawarehouse repository 30 can be implemented within a computer system 100,as is shown FIG. 2. A user 5 can enter the computer system 100 through adata network 40 via a web browser 20. A user 5 includes any personassociated with a source 10 of resource data 15 or any person associatedwith a requestor 50 of statistical data 25. By way of example, but notlimitation, the data network 40 can be the Internet or an Intranet andthe web browser 20 can be any available web browser or any type ofInternet Service Provider (ISP) connection that provides access to thedata network 40. The user 5 accesses the computer system 100 through aweb server 120 capable of pushing web pages to the web browser 20. Theweb server 120 can be, for example, a Microsoft Internet InformationServices (IIS) server.

The web server 120 enables users to interface to a database 150maintaining the resource data 15 within resource records 250. Thedatabase 150 can be, for example, a SQL server. The resource data 15stored in the resource records 250 includes both resource profileinformation 260 and resource rate information 270. The resource profileinformation 260 includes at least a non-prose hierarchical profiledefined from hierarchical profile selections to identify a job category.The resource profile information 260 can further include one or moreskills associated with the hierarchical profile. The skills associatedwith the hierarchical profile can define general functions identifyingthe level of skill associated with the job category and the resource,skills categories identifying the types of skills, training andexperience that the resource possesses and one or more skills setsassociated with each skills category to further define the specificexperience associated with the resource. The resource rate information270 associated with a particular resource profile information 260 canfurther be categorized to identify specific compensation informationpertaining to wage rates, benefits provided and expenses paid for thatresource profile information 260 based upon industry, geographical areaand source type.

The web server 120 further interfaces with the database 150 to retrieveresource profile fields 220 containing resource profile selection data222 and provide the resource profile selection data 222 to a source user5 to select from to create the resource profile information 260including the hierarchical profile and associated skills. In addition,the web server 120 interfaces with the database 150 to retrieve resourcerate fields 230 containing resource rate selection data 232 and providethe resource rate selection data 232 to a source user 5 to select fromto create the resource rate information 270 including the compensationinformation. The resource profile fields 220 and resource rate fields230 are organized in a hierarchical and relational manner mirroring oneor more of the resource profile information 260 and resource rateinformation 270 to enable the source user to create the hierarchicalresource profile information 260 and resource rate information 270 fromresource profile selection data 222 and resource rate selection data232, respectively.

The web server 120 provides the resource profile selection data 222 andresource rate selection data 232 to the source user 5 to select from andreceives the resource data 15 (i.e., the profile information 260 andresource rate information 270) entered by the source user 5 into thecomputer system 100 through a browser-based user interface 110. Inaddition, the web server provides statistical data 25 to a user 5associated with a requestor 50 through the browser-based user interface110.

As shown in FIG. 3 and described above in connection with FIG. 1, theresource records 250 stored within the database 150 are generated from avariety of sources 10. The resource data 15 can be collected fromindividual resumes containing resource rate information 10 a, variousperiodicals 10 b having available positions listed, job fairpublications or handouts 10 d, seminar publications or handouts 10 e,job postings on Internet job board sites 10 c and various businessentities 10 f. The resource data 15 can be entered into the database 150by a user (e.g., employee) associated with the computer system 100 orother authorized user. For example, a user associated with a particularbusiness entity 10 f can enter resource records 250 for one or more ofthe employees (full-time, part-time or temporary) of the business entity10 f and/or one or more of the positions available at the businessentity 10 f into the database 150. The business entity 10 f can create aseparate resource record 250 for each employee, separate resourcerecords 250 for each job category and skills associated with multipleemployees or separate resource records 250 for one or more selectemployees. Alternatively, the business entity 10 f can store resourcedata 15 in a database (not shown) associated with the business entity 10f, and the database 150 of the computer system 100 can periodicallyupload the resource data 15 into resource records 250 within thedatabase 150. In one embodiment, in exchange for providing the resourcedata 15, the computer system 100 operator could allow the businessentity 10 f access to statistical data 25 (shown in FIGS. 1 and 2)associated with the resource records 250 stored in the database 150, aswill be described in more detail below in connection with FIGS. 14-16.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an exemplary functional view of a sampleresource record creation process is shown. A user accesses the webserver 120 of the computer system 100 by connecting a computer 60 to adata network 40. The computer 60 can be, for example, a personalcomputer, a laptop computer, a computer connected to a wireless devicefor remote access to the data network, a handheld wireless deviceproviding a web browser capable of accessing the data network or othertype of device implementing a web browser.

Upon entering the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the web server 120,a connection between the computer 60 and the web server 120 is created.The web server 120 pushes web pages 125 to the computer 60 for viewingby the user on a user interface device 65. In one embodiment, the userinterface device 65 can be, for example, a computer screen 15 connectedto the computer 60. For example, once the user has been validated (e.g.,by entering a user name and password), the user can view one or more webpages 125 on the computer screen 65, each containing prompts for theuser to enter various information into the computer system 100. The usercan enter the information into the computer 60 for transmission via thedata network 40 to the web server 120 via any type of input device 70.By way of example, but no limitation, the input device 70 could be amouse (as illustrated), keyboard, touch screen, voice recognitionsoftware or light pen. The subsequent web pages that are pushed to thecomputer 60 are based upon the information entered by the user inresponse to the prompts. In addition, the web pages 125 can be pushed tothe computer 60 one-at-a-time or in bulk, depending upon the type ofinformation being solicited by the computer system 100 and the settingsof the computer system 100.

For example, as can be seen in FIG. 4, the web page 125 displayed on thecomputer screen 65 requests the user to “Select Business Sector” tocreate the resource profile information for the resource record 250. Theweb page 125 further prompts the user to select from the followingchoices 222: Light Industrial, Mgmt./Professional, Office and Technical.The user selects one of the choices, using the input device 50, and theselected resource profile information is transmitted from the computer60 to the web server 120 via the data network 40. Based upon theselected resource profile information, the web server 120 selects andprovides subsequent web pages 125 to the computer 60 to solicitadditional information. As shown in FIG. 4, if the user selects thechoice “Light Industrial,” in response, web server 120 pushes one ormore “Light Industrial Web Pages” 125 to the computer 60.

Each web page 125 pushed to the computer 60 is populated with dataretrieved from resource profile fields 220 or resource rate fields 230stored within the database 150. The resource profile fields 220 includeresource profile selection data 222, such as the resource profileselections or prompts to be displayed on the web pages 125 to the uservia the user-interface device 65, and the resource rate fields 230include resource rate selection data 232, such as the resource rateselections or prompts to be displayed on the web pages 125. For example,when the web server 120 receives resource profile information entered bythe user, the web server 120 accesses the resource profile fields 220 toretrieve the data to be populated in subsequent web pages (e.g., “LightIndustrial” web pages 125).

The resource profile fields 220 and resource rate fields 230 areorganized in a hierarchical manner to enable the web server 120 todetermine the appropriate fields 220 and 230 to use for populatingsubsequent web pages 125. For example, the web server 120 can include apointer (not shown) that points to a particular resource profile field220 in the database 150. When the web server 120 receives new resourceprofile information from the user, the web server 120 uses the pointerto locate the current resource profile field 220 associated with theprevious resource profile information and moves the pointer to the nextresource profile field 220 associated with the new resource profileinformation. The resource profile fields 220 and resource rate fields230 are further organized in a relational manner, so that when a userhas completed the resource profile information, the web server 120accesses the resource rate fields 230 to populate subsequent web pages125 with resource rate selection data 232.

The resource profile fields 220 and resource rate fields 230 arescalable and configurable to meet the needs of each particular industryand each particular user. Thus, new resource profile fields 220 andresource rate fields 230 and new data 222 or 232 within the resourceprofile fields 220 and resource rate fields 230 can be easily added tothe database 150 at any time. In addition, users can update theirrecords 250 at any time with the new data 222 or 232 and/or fields 220or 230. For example, the computer system 100 can send periodic updatemessages (e.g., via electronic mail messages and/or via posting on adashboard) to the users with the new data 222 or 232 and/or fields 220or 230 available, as is described in more detail hereinbelow inconnection with FIGS. 17-19.

Examples of resource profile fields 220 and resource profile selectiondata 222 stored within the database 150 are illustrated in Tables 1-3hereinbelow. The resource profile fields 220 are illustrated forsimplicity as being organized in a table format, with each tableincluding all of the fields 220 necessary for displaying resourceprofile selection data 222 on a particular web page 125. The tables arerelated in a hierarchical manner, such that the tables are accessed in aparticular order.

TABLE 1 TblBusinessSector Bus_Sector_ID Bus_Sector_NameASP_Display_Order 1 Light Industrial 4 2 Mgmt/Professional 2 3 Office 34 Technical 1

TABLE 2 TblBusinessArena Bus_Arena_ID Bus_Sector_ID Bus_Arena_NameASP_Display_Order 1 3 Administrative Support 5 2 4 Business Support 5 34 Communications Software 10 4 2 Controller 10 5 4 Enterprise ResourceApplications 15 6 2 Finance 15 7 3 General Business Support 10 8 3General Clerical 15 9 1 General Support 5 10 2 Human Resources 20 11 2Legal 25 12 1 Logistics Support 10 13 4 Management Information Systems20 14 2 Manufacturing 30 15 2 Materials Management 35 16 4 NetworkEngineering 25 17 4 Product Development 30 18 1 Production 15 21 2 Sales40 22 2 Call Center 5

TABLE 3 TblBusinessFamily Bus_Family_ID Bus_Arena_ID Bus_Family_NameASP_Display_Order 1 16 Network Design/Planning/Consulting 5 2 16 NetworkInfrastructure 10 3 16 Network Operations/Administration 15 4 3 OSProgramming 15 5 3 Application Development 5 6 3 Database Development 108 17 Product Management 10 9 17 Product Design/Development 5 10 13 OSProgramming 9 11 13 Network Infrastructure Support 15 12 13 ApplicationDevelopment 5 13 13 Network Management/Administration 20 14 5 SAP 20 155 PeopleSoft 15 16 5 Oracle 10 17 5 Baan 5 18 2 Business Analysis 5 19 2Business Support 10 20 8 General Clerical Support 5 21 1 AdministrativeSupport 5 23 9 Maintenance 5 24 9 Driver/Courier 10 26 12Shipping/Receiving 5 27 12 Distribution 10 28 12 Inventory Control 15 2918 Light Assembly 5 30 18 Electronic Assembly 10 31 18 QualifyAssurance/Control 15 32 4 Assets Management 5 33 4 Audit 10 34 4Budgeting 15 35 4 Cost Center Accounting 20 36 4 Overheads 25 37 4Product Costing 30 38 4 Profit Center Accounting 35 39 4 Profitability40 40 4 Project Accounting 45 41 4 Taxation 50 42 4 TreasuryCashManagement 55 43 6 Accounts Payable 5 44 6 Accounts Receivable 10 45 6Capital Investment 15 46 6 Consolidation 20 47 6 Credit/Collections 2548 6 General Ledger 30 49 6 Other Ledgers 35 50 10 Benefits 5 51 10Payroll 10 52 10 Personnel 15 53 10 Services 20 54 11 Antitrust Law 5 5511 Contract Law 10 56 11 Corporate Law 15 57 11 Environmental Law 20 5811 International Law 25 59 11 Labor Law 30 60 11 Real Estate Law 35 6111 Taxation Law 40 62 14 Maintenance in Manufacturing 5 63 14Manufacturing Process 10 64 14 Manufacturing Production 15 65 14Manufacturing Quality Control 20 66 15Distribution/Transportation/Warehousing 25 67 15 Materials Management 3068 15 Purchasing 35 69 21 Sales Management 5 70 21 Sales Operations 1071 22 Customer Service 5 72 22 Operations 10 73 22 Sales/Marketing 15 747 Book Keeping 5 75 7 Database Support 10 76 7 Desk Top Publishing 15 777 Spreadsheet Support 20 78 13 Database Development 10

The resource profile fields 220 shown in Tables 1-3 above containresource profile selection data 222 for soliciting a three-tieredhierarchical resource profile from the user to identify a job categoryassociated with a particular resource. Referring again to the exampleshown in FIG. 4, the “Select Business Sector” web page 125 is populatedwith the resource profile selection data 222 included within the“Business Sector” table shown in Table 1. The “Business Sector” tableincludes a “Bus_Sector_Name” field 220 listing the business sectors 222for the user to choose from, a “Bus_Sector_ID” field 220 listing theidentification numbers 222 of each of the business sectors and an“ASP_Display_Order” field 220 listing the display order 222 for each ofthe business sectors.

When the user selects “Light Industrial” as the business sector, thecomputer system 100 can further categorize the job associated with theresource by enabling the web server 120 to retrieve the “Business Arena”table shown in Table 2 above from the database 150 and populate the nextweb page 125 with resource profile selection data 222 containing several“Business Arenas”: General Support, Logistics Support and Production.The “Business Arena” table includes a “Bus_Arena_ID” field 220 listingthe identification numbers 222 of each of the business arenas, the“Bus_Sector_ID” field 220 listing the business sector identificationnumbers 222 associated with each of the business area identificationnumbers, a “Bus_Arena_Name” field 220 listing the names 222 of thebusiness arenas to be displayed on the web page 125 and an“ASP_Display_Order” field 220 listing the display order 222 for thebusiness arenas on the web page 125. However, it should be understoodthat the business arena fields 220 for each of the business sectorfields 220 can be subdivided into separate tables.

Depending upon the business arena selected by the user, the computersystem 100 can further define the job category associated with theresource by enabling the web server 120 to next access the “BusinessFamily” table shown in Table 3 above within the database 130 to populatethe next web page 125 with resource profile selection data 222containing business families for the user to choose from. The “BusinessFamily” table includes a “Bus_Family_ID” field 220 listing theidentification numbers 222 of each of the business families, the“Bus_Arena_ID” field 220 listing the business arena identificationnumbers 222 associated with each of the business family identificationnumbers, a “Bus_Family Name” field 220 listing the names 222 of thebusiness families to be displayed on the web page 125 and an“ASP_Display_Order” field 220 listing the display order 222 for thebusiness families on the web page 125. The web server 120 populates thenext web page 125 with only those business families having the selectedbusiness arena identification number associated therewith. However, itshould be understood that the business family fields 220 for each of thebusiness arena fields 220 can be subdivided into separate tables.

Sample web pages that can be presented to a user to solicit the resourceprofile information are shown in FIGS. 5A-5G, FIG. 5A lists exemplarybusiness sector resource profiling selection data 222 a for the user toselect from. As can be seen in FIG. 5A, the user has selected“Technical” as the business sector selection, and therefore, the nextweb page in FIG. 5B lists exemplary business arena resource profilingselection data 222 b associated with the “Technical” business sector. Ascan be seen in FIG. 5B the user has selected “Management InformationSystems” as the business arena, and therefore, the next web page in FIG.5C lists exemplary business family resource profiling selection data 222c associated with the “Management Information Systems” business arena.As shown in FIG. 5C, the user has selected “Database Development” as thebusiness family.

Once the three-tiered hierarchical resource profile (i.e., job category)has been defined, the particular skills possessed by the resource andassociated with the job category can be defined using subsequenttables/web pages, as is shown in FIGS. 5D-5G. For example, the next webpage in FIG. 5D can list exemplary general function resource profilingselection data 222 d, and the user can be asked to select one or moregeneral functions associated with the resource. The general functionresource profiling selection data 222 d is used to solicit the level ofskill associated with the resource from a functions perspective. As anexample, the user has selected the following, general functions in FIG.5D: Database Administration, Database Applications Development/Analysisand Database Architecture. All of the selected functions indicate thatthe level of skill of the particular resource is fairly high, since thefunctions are all typically performed by management/administratorpersonnel.

In addition to selecting the general functions to determine the level ofskill of the resource, a web page can also be presented to the userlisting skills category resource profile selection data 222 d, as isshown in FIG. 5E. The skills category resource profile selection data222 d is used to solicit the types of skills and experiences that theresource has. The types of skills are not necessarily limited tospecific job-related skills, but also to other skills the particularresource may possess, such as education level, linguistic ability,travel capability, industry backgrounds and communication skills. As isshown in FIG. 5E, the user has selected at least the following skillscategories (not all skills categories are shown in FIG. 5E): Database,Education Level and Internet Platforms.

For each of the skills categories that the user selects, a separate webpage listing skills sets resource profiling selection data 222 f ispresented to the user, an example of which is shown in FIG. 5F. Theskills sets resource profiling selection data 222 f is used to solicitthe specific skills sets (experience) for a particular skills categorythat the user selected. For example, FIG. 5F is a web page showingskills sets resource profiling selection data 222 f for the Databaseskills category that the user selected in FIG. 5E. As can be seen inFIG. 5F, the user has selected the following skills sets associated withthe particular resource and pertaining to the Database skills category:Informix and Oracle. It should be understood that a separate web page ispresented to the user for each skills category that the user selects inorder to solicit the specific skills sets that the resource possesseswith respect to the skills category.

An example of a web page containing all of the entered resource profileinformation is shown in FIG. 5G. The “Business Sector,” “Business Arena”and “Business Family” selections entered by the user in FIGS. 5A-5C areshown, along with the “General Functions” entered by the user in FIG.5D. In addition; the skills sets entered by the user in conjunction withFIGS. 5E-5F are shown. For example, under “Skill Set,” there is alisting of the particular “Skills Categories” that the user selected (ofthe type shown in FIG. 5E), the particular “Skills” within each of the“Skills Categories” that the user selected (of the type shown in FIG.5F) and the “Priority” assigned to each of the “Skills” within the“Skills Categories.” From the web page shown in FIG. 5G, the user canfurther be provided the option to save the resource profile informationas a resource record (“Save Profile”), edit the resource profileinformation (“Edit Profile”), delete the resource profile information(“Cancel Profile”) or create resource rate information associated withthe resource profile information (“Create New Pricing Record”).

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5H, instead of entering theresource profile information separately each time, the user can insteadchoose from one or more pre-configured resource profiles, and associatea particular resource profile type with one of the pre-configuredresource profiles to create a new resource record. For example, if theuser is a business entity user that wants to enter multiple full-timeemployees into the database, the business entity user can associate eachfull-time employee with a pre-configured resource profile to create aresource record in the database for that full-time employee. Inaddition, if there are multiple employees that have the same resourceprofile, the business entity could associate multiple employees with thesame pre-configured resource profile and the resource record can includean indication of the number of employees associated with that resourcerecord.

The pre-configured resource profiles can be established in advance bythe business entity or computer system operator. In addition, thepre-configured resource profiles can include any level of detail relatedto general function, skills categories and skills, depending upon theneeds of the user. As another example, if the user is a computer systemuser that wants to enter one or more job advertisements from anewspaper, the computer system user can associate each job advertisementwith a particular pre-configured resource profile to create a resourcerecord in the database for that job advertisement. Once the resourcerecord including the pre-configured resource profile has been created,the user can be presented a web page similar to FIG. 5G to prompt theuser to either save the resource profile information, delete theresource profile information, edit the resource profile information orcreate resource rate information associated with that resource profileinformation;

FIG. 6A illustrates a sample user interface 110 for presenting resourcerate selection data 232 to the user. The browser-based resource rateuser interface 110 is table-driven, similar to the resource profileuser-interface shown in FIGS. 5A-5H. The various resource rate fields230 and associated resource rate selection data 232 can be displayed onone or more web pages to the user. In addition, the resource rateselection data 232 for each of the resource rate fields 230 can beprovided to the user in a number of different formats. For example, theresource rate selection data 232 for the “Resource Type” field 220 canbe presented to the user as a “pull down menu” containing all of theresource types for the user to select from (e.g., by clicking on one ofthe appropriate displayed resource type). As another example, theresource rate selection data 232 for the “Company” field 230 can bepresented to the user as a space where the user can type in the companyname.

In other examples, the user can be provided the option of selecting morethan one of the resource rate selections 232 under a particular resourcerate field 230 and/or entering additional information associated withone or more of the resource rate selections. For example, the resourcerate selection 232 associated with the “Pay Rate Types” field 230 can bepresented to the user as a pull-down menu of pay rate type selections,of which the user can select one or more of the pay rate typeselections. When the user selects one of the pay rate type selections,the user can be further prompted for additional information about theselected pay rate type. As an example, if the user selects the “OverTime/Hour” pay rate selection, the user can be prompted to enter anhourly rate for over time and the total number of hours per year of overtime associated with the resource. The “Annual Hours” resource rateselection data 232 can be presented to the user as a space for the userto enter an amount or a default amount with the option for the user toedit the default amount. The “Annual Hours” resource rate selection data232 can be provided as a separate web page or as part of the web pagedisplaying the pay rate types. Once the user has entered all of theresource rate information associated with the resource, the user cansave the resource rate information (e.g., click on the “Save PriceRecord” button) to store the entered resource rate information in theresource record in the database.

FIG. 6B is a screen shot illustrating a sample web page that can bepresented to the user to create a resource record. As can be seen inFIG. 6B, the user can create a new resource record by entering theresource profile information (as shown in FIGS. 5A-5F), followed by theresource rate information associated with the resource profileinformation. Alternatively, the user can create a new resource record byusing an existing resource profile (as shown in FIG. 5H), and enteringthe resource rate information associated with the existing resourceprofile information.

Examples of the types of resource rate fields 230 and resource rateselection data 232 that is provided to the user to select from are shownin Tables 4-8 hereinbelow. The resource rate fields 230 are illustratedfor simplicity as being organized in a table format, with each tableincluding all of the fields 230 necessary for displaying resourceprofile selection data 232 on a particular web page. The tables arerelated in a hierarchical and/or relational manner, such that the tablesare accessed in a particular order.

TABLE 4 TblluResourceType Resource_Type_Name ResourceTypeID FTE 1StaffSuppContractor 2 ProjectWorkResource 3 IndependentContractor 4ContingentWorker 5

TABLE 5 tblluProfileSource Profile_Source_Name ProfileSourceID IntegrityFactor ClientCorp 1 1 NewspaperAd 2 3 InternetBoard 3 2.5 JobFair 4 2IntranetPosting 5 1 Survey 6 2 SisterConEmployee 7 1 GovtReport 8 3

TABLE 6 tblluPayExpenseTypes Expense_Type_Name ExpenseType10 Per_Diem 1Travel 2 Living 3 Auto_Mileage 4 Meals 5 Miscellaneous 6

TABLE 7 tblluBenefitType Benefit_Name BenefitTypeID VacationPay 1HolidayPay 2 SubsidizedHealthPlan 3 VehicleAllowance 4 401KPlan 5StockPlan 6 Profitsharing 7 SubsidizedLifeInsurance 8 TuitionSubsidy 9PurchasingDiscounts 10 PaidTraining 11 Bonus 12 PaidSickDays 13

TABLE 8 tblluPayRateTypes Labor_Type_Name Labor_Type_ID Straight_Time 1Over_Time_At_Straight_Pay 2 Over_Time_At_Time_&_One_H 3Over_Time_At_Double_Time 4 1^(st)_Shift 5 2^(n)_Shift 6 3^(rd)_Shift 7Weekend_Shift 8 Night_Shift 9 On_Call_Duty 10Professional_Work_Day_10_Ho 11 Professional_Work_Day_12_Ho 12Daily_Flat_Rate 13 NonBillable_Hours 14 Salary 15

The resource profile fields 230 shown in Tables 4-8 above containresource profile selection data 232 for soliciting resource rateinformation from the user to categorize the compensation information(e.g., wage rates, benefits and expenses) associated with a particularresource. As can be seen from Table 4, one type of resource rateinformation that can be solicited from the user is the “Resource Type,”which indicates the type of resource that the rate information isassociated with. For example, a “Resource Type” table can be accessed toretrieve resource rate selection data 232 associated with the “ResourceType” field 230 and display to the user the resource rate selection data232 for the particular “Resource Type,” such as: Full-Time Employee,Staff Supplementation Contractor, Project Work Contractor, IndependentContractor and Contingent Worker. The “Resource Type” table can furtherinclude a “Resource Type ID” field 230 listing the identificationnumbers within the computer system of each of the resource types. Itshould be understood that although not shown, the “Resource Type” tablecould also include an “ASP Display Order” field to indicate the displayorder of the resource types on the web page.

Table 5 above illustrates another type of resource rate information thatcan be solicited from the user. A “Profile Source” table is shown thatincludes a “Profile Source Name” field 230 that contains resource rateselection data 232 indicating the source of the resource rateinformation, such as: Client Corporation, Newspaper AD, Internet Board,Job Fair, Intranet Posting, Survey, Sister Company Employee orGovernment Report. The “Profile Source” table further includes a“Profile Source ID” field 230 listing the identification numbers withinthe computer system of each of the profile sources and a “IntegrityFactor” field 230 listing an integrity factor associated with each ofthe profile sources. For example, the resource rate informationcollected from profile sources that provide actual compensationinformation for actual employees can have a higher integrity level thansources that provide advertised or surveyed compensation information. Inthis way, the statistical data generated from the resource rateinformation can be weighed depending upon the source (e.g., resourcerate information collected from a client corporation can be weightedhigher than resource rate information collected from a governmentreport). Additional “Profile Source” tables (not shown) can be includedto further identify the profile source. For example, additional tablescan be used to solicit information about the specific profile source,such as the type of periodical, the issue date of the periodical, thename of the business entity, the location of business entity, the numberof employees the business entity has and other source identifying data.

As a further example, Table 6 illustrates a “Pay Expense Type” tablethat includes a “Expense Type Name” field 220 containing resource rateselection data 232 indicating the types of expenses that the particularresource is compensated for, such as: Per Diem expenses, Travelexpenses, Living expenses, Auto Mileage expenses, Meal expenses andother Miscellaneous expenses. Additional compensation information caninclude various benefits provided to the particular resource. To collectthe benefit information, as shown in Table 7, a “Benefit Type” table canbe accessed to retrieve a “Benefit Name” field 220 containing resourcerate selection data 232 indicating various benefits associated with theparticular resource. The particular pay or wage information associatedwith the resource can be collected by accessing a “Pay Rate Types” tablethat includes a “Labor Type Name” field 220 having resource rateselection data 232 indicating various types of pay structures, as shownin Table 8. The “Pay Expense Types” table, “Benefit Type” table and “PayRate Types” table can all further include an “ID” field that indicatesthe identification numbers within the computer system of the variousexpense types, benefit types and pay rate types.

Turning again to FIG. 3, all of the resource data 15 entered by the user(i.e., resource profile information 260 and resource rate information270) and received at the web server 120 is stored in a resource record250 within the database 150 (as described above in connection with FIG.2). The resource profile information 260 and resource rate information270 in the resource record 250 mirror the hierarchical and relationalstructure of the resource profile fields 220 and resource rate fields230. Examples of the type of resource profile information 260 stored inthe resource record 250 are illustrated hereinbelow in Tables 9-15.

TABLE 9 tblBusSector (Structure View) Column Name Data Type LengthResource Profile Info Business_Sector_ID int 4 4 Business_Sector_Namenvarchar 50 Technical BS_ASP_Display numeric 9 1

TABLE 10 tblBusArena (Structure View) Column Name Data Type LengthResource Profile Info Business_Arena_ID int 4 13 Business_Sector_ID int4  4 Business_Arena_Name nvarchar 50 Management Information SystemsBA_ASP_Display numeric 9 20

TABLE 11 tblBusFamily (Structure View) Column Name Data Type LengthResource Profile Info Business_Family_ID int 4 78 Business_Arena_ID int4 13 Business_Family_Name nvarchar 50 Database Development BF_AS_Displaynumeric 9 10

TABLE 12 TblBusGenFunctions (Structure View) Column Name Data TypeLength Resource Profile Info Business_Family_ID Int 4 78General_Function_ID Int 4  3 General_Function_Name Nvarchar 100 DatabaseAdmin.

TABLE 13 TblBusFamtoBusCat (Structure View) Column Name Data Type LengthResource Profile Info BusinessFamilyID Int 4 78 Skills_Category_ID Int 4 2 Skills_Category Nvarchar 255 Database

TABLE 14 TblBusCategory (Structure View) Column Name Data Type LengthResource Profile Info Skills_Category_ID Int 4 2 Skills_CategoryNvarchar 255 Database

TABLE 15 TblBusSkills (Structure View) Column Name Data Type LengthResource Profile Info Skill_ID Int 4 7 Skill_Name Nvarchar 255 InformixSkills_Category_ID Int 4 2

Tables 9-15 illustrate in table-format various tables that can includeresource profile fields 220 and resource profile information 260 enteredby the user for the resource. For example, in Table 9, the numericidentity 260 of the selected business sector can be stored in the“Business_Sector_ID” field 220, the selected business sector name 260can be stored in the “Business_Sector_Name” field 220 and the ASPdisplay order 260 of the selected business sector can be stored in the“BS_ASP_Display” field 220. Each field 220 includes resource profileinformation 260 of a certain data type (e.g., int, nvarchar, char,varchar, bit and datetime) and a certain length. Each of the subsequentTables 10-15 includes not only further resource profile information 260,but also an identification of the previous resource profile informationassociated with the resource profile information included within thetable. For example, the “Business Arena” table shown in Table 10includes the “Business_Sector_ID” field 220 and the associated identity260 of the selected business sector in addition to the“Business_Arena_ID” field 220 and the associated identity 260 of theselected business arena.

FIG. 7 is a database table-driven view illustrating the hierarchicalrelationship between the different types of resource profile fields 220containing resource profile information (not shown) entered and storedin the resource records 250. The “Business Sector” table 261 a is a toptier table, in that all other resource profile information is based onthe resource profile information stored in the “Business Sector” table261 a. For example, the “Business Arena” table 261 b is a second tiertable to the “Business Sector” table 261 a and the “Business Family”table 261 c is a third tier table to the “Business Sector” table 261 a.The “Business General Functions” table 261 d and the “Business Family toBusiness Category” table 261 e are both fourth tier tables to the“Business Sector” table 261 a, and neither table 261 d or 261 e dependfrom each other. The “Business Category” table 261 f and “BusinessSkills” table 261 g further depend from the “Business Family to BusinessCategory” table 261 e, which correlates the selected business family tothe one or more selected skills categories. It should be understood thatthere can be multiple “Business Family to Business Category” tables 261e, one for each of the selected skills categories, in order to correlatethe selected business family with each of the selected skillscategories.

Examples of additional resource profile information that can be storedin the resource record 250 are shown in Tables 16-19 hereinbelow.

TABLE 16 tblProfileMaster (Structure View) Column Name Data Type LengthResource Profile Info ResourceProfileguid int 4 100 ResourceProfileNameVarchar 255 Profile X BusSectorID Int 4 4 BusArenaID Int 4 13BusFamilyID Int 4 78 User_Notes Varchar 1000 User Notes RecordDateDatetime 8 dd/mm/yyyy ProfileStatus Char 8 Current

TABLE 17 TblProfileMasterGFs (Structure View) Column Name Data TypeLength Resource Profile Info ResourceProfileguid Int 4 100GeneralFunctionID int 4 10 RecordID int 4 50

TABLE 18 tblProfileMasterSkills (Structure View) Column Name Data TypeLength Resource Profile Info Resource_Profile_ID int 4 100 Skill_ID int4 30 Record_ID int 4 50 Skill_Priority int 4 2

TABLE 19 tblBusSkillPriority (Structure View) Column Name Data TypeLength Resource Profile Info Skill_Priority_ID int 4 2Skill_Priority_Name varchar 50 Critical

Tables 16-19 above illustrate resource profile master information 260that can be stored in the resource record in addition to the resourceprofile information 260 shown in Tables 9-15 above. For example, theresource profile master information 260 can include general informationpertaining to the resource profile. In addition, the resource profilemaster information 260 can be used to store pre-configured resourceprofile information 260 to enable a user to associated resource rateinformation with the pre-configured resource profile information 260. Asanother example, the resource profile master information 260 can be usedas a searching tool for searching resource records based upon requestedresource profile information.

Table 16 shows a “Profile Master” table that contains a number ofresource profile fields 220 and associated data entries 260 that providebasic resource profile information, such as the resource profile name,the business sector, arena and family identities of the resource andother basic identification information. Each resource profile field 220within the “Profile Master” table is capable of supporting differentdata types (e.g., int, nvarchar, char, varchar, bit and datetime) andlengths. For example, the field 220 “BusSectorID” is capable ofsupporting an intermittent number of numeric values, depending uponbusiness sector that the user selected to classify the resource. Other“master” tables can be associated with the “Profile Master” table, suchas a “Profile Master GF” table shown in Table 17, which includes theresource profile field 220 “GeneralFunctionID” and the associatedgeneral function resource profile information 260 entered by the user inconnection with the resource, a “Profile Master Skills” table shown inTable 18, which includes the resource profile field 220 “Skill_ID” andthe associated skills resource profile information 260 entered by theuser in connection with the resource and a “Business Skill Priority”table shown in Table 19, which includes the resource profile field 220“Skill_Priority_ID” 220 and the associated priority resource profileinformation 260 of the skills resource profile information 260 stored inthe “Profile Master Skills” table.

FIG. 8 is a database table-driven view illustrating the interrelationbetween the resource profile master information and business skillsresource profile information entered and stored in the resource records250. The “Profile Master” table 261 h is the top tier of resourceprofile information in FIG. 8, in that all other resource profileinformation is based on the “Profile Master” table 261 h. For example,the “Profile Master GFs” table 261 i and “Profile Master Skills” table261 j are second tier tables to the “Profile Master” table 261 h, whilethe “Business Skills Priority” table 261 k is a third tier table to the“Profile Master” table 261 h. In addition, tables 261 a-f are allrelated to the “Profile Master” table 261 h and serve as constrainedsource data.

Examples of the type of resource rate information 270 (shown in FIG. 2)stored in the resource record are shown in Tables 20-23 hereinbelow.

TABLE 20 tblProfilePriceMaster (Structure View) Resource Rate ColumnName Data Type Length Information ResourceProfileguid int 4 100Pricingguid int 4 200 ResourceTypeID int 4 3 IndustryTypeID int 4 4ProfileSourceID int 4 1 WorkCountry int 4 US WorkRegion int 4 NYWorkCity int 4 NYC PricingIntegrityFactor int 4 1 VendorID int 4 XXXOrderID int 4 ZZZ WorkStartDate datetime 8 dd/mm/yyyy WorkEndDatedatetime 8 dd/mm/yyyy Expenses_Authorized char 1 YNonStraightTimePayAuthorized char 10 No FringeBenefitsAuthorized char 10No TotalHourlyCompensation money 8   $25 TotalAnnualizedCompensationmoney 8 $52,000 CurrencyTypeID int 4 1 ResourceName varchar 120 EmployeeX RecordDate datetime 8 dd/mm/yyyy

TABLE 21 tblProfilePriceRates (Structure View) Column Name Data TypeLength Resource Profile Info Pricingguid int 4 100 PayRateType int 4 15Rate money 8 $50,000 [% LaborPay] float 8 RecordID int 4 50

TABLE 22 tblProfilePriceBenefits (Structure View) Column Name Data TypeLength Resource Profile Info Pricingguid int 4 100 BenefitType int 4 12AnnualBenefitValue money 8 $5,000 RecordID int 4 50

TABLE 23 tblProfilePriceExpenses (Structure View) Column Name Data TypeLength Resource Profile Info Pricingguid int 4 100 RecordID int 4 50ExpenseTypeID int 4 6 AnnualExpenseAmount money 8 $1,000

Tables 20-23 above illustrates in table-format various tables that caninclude resource rate fields 230 and resource rate information 270entered by the user for the resource. For example, Table 20 is a“Profile Price Master” table that includes resource rate master fields230 that include resource rate master information 270. As an example,the “Profile Price Master” table is shown including the “ResourceTypeID”field 230 and the corresponding data entry 270 for the resource typeidentity (e.g., 3, which indicates that the resource type is “ProjectWork Contractor” from a reference to Table 4), the “ProfileSourceID”field 230 and the corresponding data entry 270 for the source identity(e.g., 1, which indicates that the source of the rate information is“Client Corporation” from a reference to Table 5), the“PricingIntegrityFactor” field 230 and the corresponding data entry 270for the integrity factor associated with the rate information (e.g., 1,which is associated with the source of “Client Corporation” from areference to Table 5), a “WorkCountryID” field 230, a “WorkRegionID”field 230 and a “WorkCityID” field 230 and the corresponding dataentries 270 to define the country, region and city that the resourcerate information is associated with and other master rate information270. Each resource profile field 230 within the “Profile Price Master”table is capable of supporting different data types (e.g., int,nvarchar, char, varchar, bit and datetime) and lengths.

The resource rate information 270 can be further defined using othertables associated with the “Profile Price Master” table, such as a“Profile Price Rates” table shown in Table 21, which includes theresource rate field 230 “PayRateType” and the associated pay rate typeresource rate information 270 entered by the user from the selectionsshown in Table 8, and the resource rate field 230 “Rate” and theassociated actual wage rate 270 associated with the pay rate typeentered by the user in connection with the resource. In addition, thebenefit rate information can be defined using a “Profile Price Benefits”table shown in Table 22, which includes the resource rate field 230“BenefitType” and the associated benefit type resource rate information270 entered by the user from the selections shown in Table 7, and theresource rate field 230 “AnnualBenefitValue” and the associated actualannual benefit amount 270 associated with the benefit type entered bythe user in connection with the resource. Furthermore, the expense rateinformation can be defined using a “Profile Price Expenses” table shownin Table 23, which includes the resource rate field 230 “ExpenseTypeID”and the associated expense type resource rate information 270 entered bythe user from the selection shown in Table 6, and the resource ratefield 230 “AnnualExpenseAmount” and the associated actual expense amount270 associated with the expense type entered by the user in connectionwith the resource.

FIG. 9 is a database table-driven view illustrating the interrelationbetween the resource rate master information 270 stored in the “ProfilePrice Master” table 271 a, other resource rate information 270 stored inother resource rate tables 271 b-d and the resource profile masterinformation 260 stored in the “Profile Master” table 261 h, all of whichare stored within a resource record 250. The “Profile Master” table 261h is the top tier of resource profile information 260, as discussedabove, and the “Profile Price Master” table 271 a is the top tier ofresource rate information 270. The resource rate information 270 isassociated with a particular resource profile 260 by associating the“Profile Master” table 261 h with the “Profile Price Master” table 271a. The resource record 250 can further include additional resourceprofile tables (as shown in Tables 24-29 below), or if the profilemaster information 260 is used to store pre-configured resource profileinformation 260, the resource record 250 may only include the resourcemaster tables 261 h j, and associate specific resource rate information270 with the resource master information 260.

Examples of additional resource rate information 270 that can be storedto further define the resource rate information 270 and enable differenttypes of searching mechanisms are shown in Tables 24-29 hereinbelow.

TABLE 24 tblGEOCountries (Structure View) Column Data Type LengthCountry ID int 4 Country_Name nvarchar 100 Country_Abbreviation nvarchar50 Currency nvarchar 100 [Currency_Code] nvarchar 100

TABLE 25 tblGEORegions (Structure View) Column Data Type LengthRegion_ID int 4 Region_Name nvarchar 50 Region_Abbreviation nvarchar 4Region_Type varchar 50 Country_ID int 4

TABLE 26 tblGEOCities (Structure View) Column Data Type Length City_IDint 4 City_Name nvarchar 255 Region_ID int 4 Country_ID int 4

TABLE 27 tblluIndustryTypes (Structure View) Column Data Type LengthIndustryTypeID int 4 IndustryTypeDescription varchar 50

TABLE 28 tblCurrency (Structure View) Column Data Type LengthCurrency_ID int 4 Currency_Name varchar 255 Currency_UniCode char 3

TABLE 29 tblProfileSource (Structure View) Column Data Type LengthProfileSource_ID int 4 ProfileSource_Name varchar 100 IntegrityFactorint 4

For example, in addition to storing identification data 270 in the“WorkCountryID”, “WorkRegionID” and “WorkCityID” fields 230 in the“Profile Price Master” table shown in Table 19 above, additional tables,such as Tables 24-26 above, can be included to store fields 230, such asthe “Country_Name”, “Region_Name”, “City_Name” and other searchablecriteria fields, to enable a user to search for rate information 270associated with a particular resource profile 260 within a particulargeographic area 270. Likewise, other tables, such as Tables 27-29 above,can be included to further define additional searchable parameters forvarious other resource rate information 270.

For example, an “Industry Types” table shown in Table 28 can be includedto store the “IndustryTypeID” field 230 and associated data entry and an“IndustryTypeDescription” field 230 and associated data entry.Therefore, a user can search for resource rate information 270associated with a particular resource profile 260 within a particularindustry or across multiple industries. As another example, a “Currency”table shown in Table 28 can be included to store the “Currency_ID” field230 and associated data entry, “Currency_Name” field 230 and associateddata entry and “Currency_Unicode” field 230 and associated data entry.Therefore, when a user searches for rate information 270 associated witha particular resource profile 260, the user can have the rateinformation displayed in any currency that the user desires, and allrate information 270 can be equally processed by converting betweencurrency amounts at the current currency exchange rate. As a furtherexample, a “Profile Sources” table shown in Table 27 can be included tostore the “ProfileSourceID” field 230 and associated data entry,“Profile_Source_Name” field 230 and associated data entry and“Pricing_Integrity_Factor” field 230 and associated data entry.Therefore, when the computer system uses the rate information stored ina particular resource record as part of a statistical analysis, thecomputer system can weigh the rate information using the pricingintegrity factor as a consideration of where the resource rateinformation originated from.

It should be understood that the amount of resource rate information 270stored in the resource record is not limited to the specific resourcerate information 270 described herein, but instead is intended toinclude any resource rate information 270 that may be applicable for aparticular industry-sector. In addition, it should be understood thatthe organizational relation between various resource rate information270 is not limited to the table-format described herein, but instead isintended to include any organizational relation that allows searching ofresource rate information 270 for particular resource profileinformation 260.

FIG. 10 is a database table-driven view illustrating the interrelationbetween the resource rate master information 270 stored in the “ProfilePrice Master” table 271 a, other resource rate information 270 stored inother resource rate tables 271 b-j, the resource profile masterinformation 260 stored in the “Profile Master” tables 261 h-k and otherresource profile information 260 stored in other resource profile tables271 a-g, all of which are stored within a resource record 250.

FIG. 11 is a data flow diagram illustrating a resource tool 280 forenabling a user to create a resource record 250. The resource tool 280can include any hardware, software and/or firmware required to performthe functions of the resource tool 280, and can be implemented withinthe web server 120 or an additional server (not shown). Each time a useraccesses the computer system 100 to create a new resource record 250 orupdate an existing resource record 230, the resource tool 280 retrievesresource profile selection data 222 from the resource profile fields 220stored in the database 150 or resource rate selection data 232 from theresource rate fields 230 stored in the database 150 and passes theresource profile selection data 222 or resource rate selection data 232to the web server 120 to populate in one or more web pages 125 to bepresented to the user via a data-in browser 20 a.

The user enters one or more profile selections 260 or rate selections270 based on the resource profile selection data 222 or resource rateselection data 232, and the web server 120 passes the profile selections260 or rate selections 270 to the resource tool 280 for storage withinthe resource record 250. Based upon the profile selections 260 or rateselections 270, the resource tool 280 further accesses the database 150for new resource profile selection data 222 or new resource rateselection data 232 for populating subsequent web pages 125 within theweb server 120 to be presented to the data-in browser 20 a.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary steps for enteringresource profile information and resource rate information into aresource record in the database, in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention. Initially, a user accesses the computer system andlogs-in using, for example, a user name and password, to authenticatethe user to the computer system (step 300). The user name and/orpassword can be unique to each user, or one user name and password canbe associated with all users at a particular source (e.g., businessentity). Once the user has been authenticated, the user can enterresource profile information and resource rate information into thecomputer system (step 310) using the user interface, as described abovein connection with FIGS. 4-6. For example, the user can be prompted toenter resource profile information in the hierarchical manner describedabove in connection with FIGS. 5A-5F by pushing web pages populated withresource profile selection data to the user and storing receivedresource profile information into fields within the resource record.Once the resource profile information has been entered, or once the userhas associated a particular pre-configured resource profile with theresource record, as shown in FIG. 5H, the user can be prompted to enterresource rate information using the user interface described above inconnection with FIGS. 6A-6B. Alternatively, if the user is updating anexisting resource record, the user can be prompted to indicate the typeof information the user would like to update (e.g., resource profileinformation or resource rate information), and in response, the computersystem can push web pages to the user having resource profile selectiondata or resource rate selection data associated with only theinformation that the user would like to update.

There are certain resource profile fields and/or resource rate fieldsthat the computer system may require all users to fill out, such as thebusiness sector, arena and family, or the pay rate type and actual wagerate associated with the resource. If the user does not fill out one ormore of the required fields (step 320), the computer system prompts theuser to fill out those required fields (step 330). Once all of therequired fields are complete (step 320), the computer system providesthe user with a message indicating that the resource record (new orchanged) has been received and stored in the database (step 340). Forexample, the user can be provided with a web page similar to the webpage shown in FIG. 5G to summarize the entered resource profileinformation, and on the same web page or a different web page, a summaryof the resource rate information entered by the user.

FIG. 13 shows the steps for entering all of the specific resourceprofile information described above in connection with FIGS. 5A-5F andresource rate information into the resource record. As a first step, auser enters the master data associated with the resource, such as theresource profile name (e.g., Employee X) and resource profile source(e.g., Business A) (step 400). Thereafter, the user enters the businesssector (step 405), business arena associated with the business sector(step 410) and business family associated with the business arena (step415) to define the job category of the particular resource. To furtherdefine the level of skill of the particular resource, the user entersthe general functions associated with the resource (step 420). Once allof the general functions have been entered (step 425), the user enters askills category associated with a particular type of skill that theresource possesses (step 430). For each skills category entered by theuser, the user further defines the specific experience the resource hasby entering one or more skills under that skills category (step 435).Once all of the skills for a particular skills category have beenentered (step 445), the user moves to the next skills category (steps445 and 430) to enter all of the skills associated with that skillscategory (steps 435 and 440). After all of the skills for each of theskills categories associated with the business family of the resourcehave been entered (step 445), to complete the resource profileinformation, the user enters rate information associated with theresource profile information (step 450). Thereafter, the resourceprofile information and associated resource rate information are storedwithin a resource record in the database (step 455).

FIG. 14 is a data flow diagram illustrating a statistical tool 290 formatching resource profile information 260 stored within the database 150to resource criteria 520, and calculating requested resource ratestatistical data 25 associated with matching resource profileinformation 260, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. The statistical tool 290 can include any hardware, softwareand/or firmware required to perform the functions of the statisticaltool 290, and can be implemented within the web server 120 or anadditional server (not shown). When a user (requestor) accesses thecomputer system 100 using a data-out browser 20 b, the computer system100 solicits resource criteria 520 from the user. The resource criteria520 can be entered in the same manner as the resource profileinformation 260 stored in the resource records 250 in the database 150.For example, the statistical tool 290 can interface with the database150 to retrieve criteria fields 550 containing criteria selection data530 and populate one or more web pages 560 within the web server 120with the criteria selection data 530 to be passed to the data-outbrowser 20 b, so that the user can enter the specific resource criteria520 that the user would like statistical information on. It should beunderstood that the criteria selection data 530 can include eithermultiple resource profile selections that can be individually selectedor one or more pre-configured resource profiles. The criteria selectiondata 530 and entered resource criteria 520 can further include variousresource rate information, such as the particular pay rate type, benefittype, expense type, geographic area, industry, currency type, datasources and data record dates (e.g., only records created during thepast twelve months), that the user desires.

The resource criteria 520 are passed from the web server 120 to thestatistical tool 290 to compare the entered resource criteria 520 to theresource records 250 stored in the database 150. The statistical toolretrieves resource profile information 260A, 260B, . . . 260N andresource rate information 270A, 270B, . . . 270N from the resourcerecords 250A, 250B, . . . 250N, respectively to determine if theresource criteria 520 match any of the resource records 250A, 250B, . .. 250N. The user can designate that all entered resource criteria 520must match exactly before a particular resource record 250 is used inthe statistical analysis, or the user can specify a minimal matchpercentage (e.g., 75% of the resource criteria 520 must match a resourcerecord 250 for that resource record 250 to be used in the statisticalanalysis). Alternatively, the computer system 100 can determine aminimal match percentage or other matching criteria (e.g., up tobusiness family with at least one general function and at least oneskill) before using a resource record 250 in the statistical analysis.The computer system 100 can further inform the user of the matchingcriteria used to enable the user to narrow or broaden the matchingcriteria accordingly as part of the resource criteria 520.

If the resource profile information (e.g., 260A) and resource rateinformation 270A within a particular resource record 250A matches theentered resource criteria 520 based upon the matching criteria, thestatistical tool 290 uses the resource rate information 270A within theresource record 250 to calculate statistical data 25 related to theresource criteria 520. The statistical data 25 can be defaultstatistical data 25 set by the computer system, or can be specificstatistical data 25 requested by the user. For example, in addition toentering the resource criteria 520, the user can enter statisticalcriteria 510 into the computer system 100. To enter the statisticalcriteria 510 into the computer system 100, the criteria selection data530 can further include statistical selections that can be populated inweb pages 560 and provided to the data-out browser 20 b from the webserver 120 for the user to select from.

The statistical selections 530 provided to the user can be generic(e.g., the user can select to have statistical data on pay rates,benefits, expenses and other compensation information) regardless of theresource criteria 520 entered by the user, or the statistical selections530 can be based upon the resource criteria 520 entered by the user. Forexample, if the user selected a particular benefit type, the user can beprompted to enter whether the user would like to have statistical data25 related to that particular benefit type. The statistical criteria 510entered by the user can relate to not only the types of data that thestatistical tool 290 can use, but also the types of calculations thestatistical tool 290 can make. For example, the statistical criteria 510can instruct the statistical tool 290 to calculate the average pay rateacross all geographical areas, the average pay rate for specificgeographic areas, the average pay rate for a specific industry ormultiple industries, the standard deviation, the pay rate range and anyother statistical data 25 that the user desires.

The statistical tool 290 further interfaces with the web server 120 toprovide a web page 500 containing the requested statistical data 25 tothe data-out browser 20 b. Based upon the statistical data 25 received,the statistical tool 290 can further provide the user the option ofmodifying the resource criteria 520 and/or the statistical criteria 510to narrow or broaden the number of resource records 280 included withinthe statistical data 25 or modify the type of statistical data 25provided on the web page 500 displayed to the user via the data-outbrowser 20 b. In addition, if the resource criteria 520 entered by theuser are too broad to perform a manageable search, the statistical tool290 can request the user to modify the resource criteria 520. Forexample, the statistical tool 290 can suggest that the user enter moregeneral functions and/or skills to perform the search. Furthermore, ifthe resource criteria 520 are too narrow, such that few or no matchesoccur, the statistical tool 290 can request the user to modify theresource criteria 520. For example, the statistical tool 290 can suggestthat the user broaden the geographical area or industry or remove thespecific benefit type that the user requested.

An example of the resource criteria 520 used by the statistical tool 290to compare to resource records 250 is illustrated in FIGS. 15A and 15B.FIG. 15A is a screen shot of an exemplary web page 560 that can beprovided to the user to choose the resource profile information of theresource criteria 520. For example, in FIG. 15A, the user has selectedthe “Technical” business sector, the “Network Engineering” businessarena and the “Network Infrastructure” business family. In addition, theuser has selected several general functions, skills categories andskills within each of the skills categories. FIG. 15B is a screen shotof an exemplary web page 560 that can be provided to the user to choosethe resource rate information of the resource criteria 520. For example,in FIG. 15B, the user has selected the “United States” as the country,“New York” as the region and “Manhattan” as the city. The user hasfurther selected a particular resource type (e.g., FTE), an industry(e.g., telecommunications), a record date span (e.g., a twelve monthperiod) and a minimal match percentage (e.g., 75%).

An example of a web page 500 containing statistical data 25 calculatedby the statistical tool using the entered resource criteria 520 andprovided to the user is shown in FIG. 15C. FIG. 15C is a screen shot ofan exemplary web page 500 listing various statistical data 25. Forexample, the user can be provided a total number of records that matchedthe resource criteria entered by the user, along with variousstatistical data 25 associated with the resource rate information storedin the matching resource records. In addition, the user can be providedthe option to modify the statistical criteria (shown as a “Edit IndustryData” button) or modify the resource criteria (shown as a “Edit QueryFilters” button). Furthermore, the user can be provided with the optionof viewing the specific resource criteria 520 that matched resourcerecords (shown as a “View Matched Skills” button). An example of a viewshowing the resource criteria 520 entered by the user that matchedresource records is illustrated in FIG. 15D.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary steps for calculating andproviding resource rate statistical data related to one or more resourcerecords, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.Initially, a user accesses the computer system and logs-in using, forexample, a user name and password, to authenticate the user to thecomputer system (step 600). The user name and/or password can be uniqueto each user, or one user name and password can be associated with allusers at a particular source (e.g., business entity). Once the user hasbeen authenticated, one or more web pages containing criteria selectiondata are pushed to the user's browser for the user to select from (step605). Based upon the criteria selection data displayed on the webpage(s), the user enters resource criteria (step 610) and statisticalcriteria (step 615) into the computer system, as described above. Forexample, the user can be prompted to enter resource criteria includingresource profile information and resource rate information in thehierarchical manner described above in connection with FIGS. 15A-15B orby requesting a particular pre-configured resource profile.

Once the resource criteria and statistical criteria have been entered,the computer system retrieves a resource record from the database (step620) and compares the resource criteria to the resource profileinformation and resource rate information stored in the resource recordto determine if the resource record matches the resource criteria (step625), in accordance with the matching criteria entered by the user aspart of the resource criteria or pre-configured by the computer system.If the resource record matches the resource criteria, the resource rateinformation included within the resource record is used to calculatestatistical data in accordance with the statistical criteria entered bythe user. This process is repeated for each resource record in thedatabase (step 635).

If, after comparing each resource record to the resource criteria, thereare no resource records that match the resource criteria (step 640), thecomputer system provides a message to the user that there are nomatching records (step 655), and the user is provided the option ofmodifying the resource criteria (e.g., broaden the geographical areaconstraints, remove one or more specific skills or general functions,etc.) in an attempt to locate one or more resource records that meet thenew resource criteria (step 660). If the user does not wish to modifythe resource criteria, the process ends.

However, if there are one or more resource records that match theresource criteria, the computer system uses all of the matching resourcerecords to calculate the requested statistical data (step 645), asevidenced by the statistical criteria entered by the user. Thecalculated statistical data is provided to the user for viewing,downloading or printing by the user (step 650). The user is furtherprovided the option of modifying the resource criteria and/orstatistical criteria (step 660) to broaden or narrow the number ofmatching resource records in order to obtain more accurate statisticaldata or different statistical data. If the user is satisfied with thestatistical data, and therefore does not choose to modify the resourcecriteria and/or statistical criteria, the process ends (step 665).

FIG. 17 is a data flow diagram illustrating a maintenance tool 295 formaintaining current resource records 250, in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention. Each resource record 250 has a “Record Date”field therein (e.g., the “Profile Price Master” Table 20 above containsa “Record Date” field) that stores a record creation date 260 a thatidentifies the date that the resource record was created by the user.The maintenance tool 295 within the computer system 100 interfaces withthe database 150 to retrieve the resource creation date 260 storedwithin the resource records 250, and make a determination of whether theresource record should be updated. The maintenance tool 140 includes thehardware, software and/or firmware required to perform the functions ofthe maintenance tool 140, and can be included within the web server 120or an additional server (not shown).

The determination of whether the resource record should be updated canbe made based upon a number of factors. For example, the maintenancetool 295 can further retrieve the source of the resource record from the“Profile Source” field (shown in Tables 20 and 28 above) to determinewhether or not the resource record should be updated. As an example, ifthe source of the resource record is a job fair or publication, therewould be no need to update the particular resource record, as thisinformation is one-time only. As another example, if the source of theresource record is a business entity, there may be a need to update theparticular resource record to modify skills and/or rate information. Thedecision of whether a particular resource record should be updated canalso be based upon a pre-determined time period from the record creationdate (e.g., one year), such that only those resource records that haverecord creation dates of a year or more ago are updated. For example,the maintenance tool 295 can store a pre-determined time period for allresource records or for certain resource records, or differentpre-determined time periods for different resource records. As anexample, a different pre-determined time period can be used fordifferent source types, or for different business entities.

If the maintenance tool 295 determines that a particular resource recordshould be updated based upon one or more factors, including the recordcreation date 260 a, the maintenance tool 295 interfaces with the webserver 120 to send an update request message 710 to the user. The updaterequest message 710 can be sent as an e-mail message to the user'se-mail account or as a posted message on a dashboard that the user canview via the user browser 20 upon logging-in to the computer system. Theupdate request message 710 can be sent per resource record or per user,such that if multiple resource records created by the same user need tobe updated, the user can be provided only a single update requestmessage 710 covering all resource records that need to be updated.

The maintenance tool 295 can further retrieve new or updated resourceprofile fields 220 (shown in FIG. 3) and/or new or updated resource ratefields 230 (shown in FIG. 3) not previously available to the user or notpreviously required to be filled out by the user. The update requestmessage 710 sent to the user can inform the user that a new or updatedfield (220 or 230) is available or required to be filled out. The updatemessage 710 can be sent to all users registered with the computer system100 or to only those users who have a need to update their records 250based on the new or updated field (220 or 230).

The maintenance tool 295 further coordinates the collection of anyupdated resource profile information and/or resource rate information260 b and/or 270 b provided by the user. The updated resource profileinformation and/or resource rate information 260 b and/or 270 b can beentered by the user via the user browser 20 and web server 120 in themanner described above in connection with FIGS. 5A-5H and FIGS. 6A-6B.The updated resource profile information and/or resource rateinformation 260 b and/or 270 b can be entered by re-entering all of theresource profile information and/or resource rate information, or theuser can be prompted to indicate the type of information the user wouldlike to update (e.g., resource profile information or resource rateinformation), and in response, the computer system can push web pages tothe user having resource profile selection data or resource rateselection data associated with only the information that the user wouldlike to update. The updated resource profile information and/or resourcerate information 260 b and/or 270 b can be specific to a particularresource record 250 or generic for multiple resource records 250 (e.g.,if a business entity has changed benefit information for all employees,a benefit change can be made globally to all resource records associatedwith the business entity). Alternatively, the updated resource profileinformation and/or resource rate information 260 b and/or 270 b canmerely indicate that no changes need to be made.

Upon receipt of the updated resource profile information and/or resourcerate information 260 b and/or 270 b, the maintenance tool 295 is furtherresponsible for storing the updated resource profile information and/orresource rate information 260 b and/or 270 b in the resource record 250and updating the record creation date 260 a. If the updated resourceprofile information and/or resource rate information 260 b and/or 270 bchanges or modifies an existing table or field within the resourcerecord 250, the maintenance tool 295 can replace any previously storedinformation 260 b or 270 b with the updated information 260 b or 270 bor store the updated information 260 b or 270 b in addition to thepreviously stored information within the resource record 250. If thelatter, the current status of the previously stored information can bechanged to “outdated.” Alternatively, other notations can be included inthe resource record to indicate the creation dates of the newinformation 260 b or 270 b and the old information.

The maintenance tool 295 further interfaces with the web server 120 toprovide e-mail penalty messages 720 to the user if the user does notenter updated information 260 b or 270 b into the computer system 100.For example, if the user does not provide any updated information 260 bor 270 b, the maintenance tool 295 can provide an e-mail penalty message720 (or penalty message 720 via dashboard) to the user informing theuser that the user can no longer access the computer system 100 toobtain statistical data related to resource criteria.

FIG. 18 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a sample web page thatcan be displayed to update resource records. As shown in FIG. 18, toupdate resource profile information 260 b, a user can be provided a webpage providing prompts to the user to select a particular resourcerecord (e.g., “Select Contractor”), and to select a skill to add to theresource profile information 260 b. Other types of prompts could also beprovided to the user to remove a skill, remove or add a general functionor otherwise modify any other resource profile information 260 b storedin the resource record. In addition, further web pages (not shown) canbe provided to the user to update the resource rate information 270 b.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary steps for updatingresource records, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. When a user enters resource profile and resource rateinformation for the first time into the computer system or when a userprovides updated resource profile or resource rate information to thecomputer system (step 800), the newly entered or updated resourceprofile and resource rate information is stored in a resource record(step 805). At the time the resource record is created or updated, thecomputer system further enters a record creation date into the resourcerecord (step 810).

If the computer system determines that the resource record should beupdated based upon the record creation date and/or other factors, asdescribed above in connection with FIG. 17 (step 815), the computersystem sends an update request message to the user requesting updatedresource profile and/or resource rate information to remind the user tocheck the resource record to ensure the accuracy of the resource profileand/or resource rate information (step 820). If updated resource profileand/or resource rate information is entered by the user into thecomputer system prior to a pre-configured time period set by thecomputer system (step 825), the resource record is updated with theupdated resource profile and/or resource rate information (step 830).However, if no updated resource profile and/or resource rate informationis received by the computer system within the pre-configured time periodset by the computer system (step 825), the user is subjected topre-determined penalties dependent upon any agreement between thecomputer system and the user (step 830).

As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the innovativeconcepts described in the present application can be modified and variedover a wide range of applications. Accordingly, the scope of patentedsubject matter should not be limited to any of the specific exemplaryteachings discussed, but is instead defined by the following claims.

I claim:
 1. A method comprising: via at least one computer comprising aprocessor and memory, collecting a plurality of resource rateinformation identifying compensation information for a plurality ofresources from a plurality of actual-market-rate sources, the pluralityof actual-market-rate sources comprising a plurality of businessentities that employ at least a portion of the plurality of resources;via the at least one computer, associating each of said plurality ofresource rate information with resource profile information; whereinsaid resource profile information is organized into a plurality ofresource profiles, each resource profile hierarchically defining atleast a job category and skills; wherein, for at least a portion of theresource profile information, the associating comprises associatingtherewith resource rate information for more than one of the pluralityof resources; via the at least one computer, storing each of saidplurality of resource rate information, said associated resource profileinformation, and a date in a resource record within a database, thedatabase comprising a plurality of resource records; and receiving arequest for statistical resource-rate data from a requestor, the requestcomprising resource criteria; wherein the resource criteria comprises adate span and profile information defined according to a structure ofthe plurality of resource profiles; comparing the resource criteria toeach of the plurality of resource records to determine one or morematching resource records; calculating, by the at least one computer,the statistical resource-rate data based on the resource-rateinformation stored in the one or more matching resource records;analyzing resource records in the database to determine whether one ormore of said resource records should be updated, said resource recordsassociated with said actual market rate sources being updated within apre-configured time period after creation thereof; requesting updatedresource profile information and updated resource rate information toupdate said one or more resource records; storing said updated resourceprofile information and said updated resource rate information withinsaid one or more resource records; providing a penalty message to a userassociated with said one or more resource records to be updated whensaid updated resource profile information and said updated resource rateinformation is not received; and preventing the requestor from receivingrequested information unless resource rate information is provided bythe requestor.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: providinghierarchical profile selection data to a user to select from; andreceiving hierarchical profile selections selected from saidhierarchical profile selection data from the user to define theplurality of resource profiles.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein saidhierarchical profile selections include a business sector selection, abusiness arena selection and a business family selection, said providinghierarchical profile selection data further comprising: providingbusiness sector selection data including said business sector selectionto the user; receiving said business sector selection from the user;determining business arena selection data associated with said businesssector selection and providing said business arena selection dataincluding said business arena selection to the user; receiving saidbusiness arena selection from the user; determining business familyselection data associated with said business arena selection andproviding said business family selection data including said businessfamily selection to the user; and receiving said business familyselection from the user.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:storing said hierarchical profile selection data in resource profilefields within the database in a hierarchical and relational structure.5. The method of claim 4, wherein said storing said resource profileinformation further comprises: storing said resource profile informationin fields within the database in a hierarchical and relational structuremirroring select ones of said resource profile fields.
 6. The method ofclaim 2, wherein said providing hierarchical profile selection datafurther comprises: providing said hierarchical profile selection data aspre-configured resource profiles; and receiving said hierarchicalprofile selections as one of said pre-configured resource profiles. 7.The method of claim 2, wherein said skills include at least one or moregeneral function selections identifying the level of skill associatedwith said hierarchical resource profile, and wherein said providinghierarchical profile selection data further comprises: providing generalfunction selection data including said one or more general functionselections to the user; and receiving said one or more general functionselections selected from said general function selection data from theuser.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein said skills include at least oneor more skill category selections identifying the type of skillsassociated with the resource and said resource profile, said providinghierarchical profile selection data further comprising: providing skillscategory selection data including said one or more skills categoryselections to the user; and receiving said one or more skills categoryselections selected from said skills category selection data from theuser.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein said skills further includesskills sets selections identifying the experience that the resourcepossesses for each of said one or more skills category selections, saidproviding hierarchical profile selection data further comprising:providing skills sets selection data including said one or more skillssets selections for each of said skills category selections to the user;and receiving said one or more skills sets selections selected from saidskills sets selection data from the user.
 10. The method of claim 2, themethod comprising: wherein said hierarchical profile selections ofselect resource profile information from the resource profileinformation include a business sector selection, a business arenaselection based upon said business sector selection and a businessfamily selection based upon said business arena selection; wherein theresource criteria comprises a business sector criteria, a business arenacriteria based upon said business sector criteria and a business familycriteria based upon said business arena criteria.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, wherein said comparing further comprises: comparing saidbusiness sector criteria to said business sector selection, saidbusiness arena criteria to said business arena selection and saidbusiness family criteria to said business family selection.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein said comparing further comprises: whereinsaid resource criteria includes at least a skills criteria; andcomparing said skills criteria to ones of said skills that areassociated with said resource profile of the select resource profileinformation.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein said ones of saidskills that are associated with said select resource profile informationinclude at least one or more general function selections identifying thelevel of skill associated with said resource profile, and wherein saidcomparing further comprises: wherein said resource criteria includes atleast a general function criteria; comparing said general functioncriteria to said one or more general function selections associated withsaid select resource profile information.
 14. The method of claim 13,wherein said ones of said skills that are associated with said selectresource profile information include at least one or more skill categoryselections identifying the type of skills associated with the resourceand said resource profile, said comparing further comprising: whereinsaid resource criteria includes at least a skills category criteria; andcomparing said skills category criteria to said one or more skillscategory selections associated with said select resource profileinformation.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein said ones of saidskills that are associated with said select resource profile informationfurther includes skills sets selections identifying the experience thatthe resource possesses for each of said one or more skills categoryselections, said comparing further comprising: wherein said resourcecriteria includes at least a skills sets criteria; and comparing saidskills sets criteria to said skills sets selections associated with saidselect resource profile information.
 16. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid collecting further comprises: providing resource rate selectiondata to a user to select from; receiving said resource rate informationselected from said resource rate selection data from the user.
 17. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: storing said resource rateselection data in resource rate fields within the database in ahierarchical and relational structure.
 18. The method of claim 17,wherein said storing said resource rate information further comprises:storing said resource rate information in fields within the database ina hierarchical and relational structure mirroring select ones of saidresource rate fields.
 19. The method of claim 1, wherein said storingfurther comprises: storing said resource rate information and saidassociated resource profile information associated with each of saidresources of a particular business entity within separate ones of saidresource records in said database.
 20. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid storing further comprises: storing at least a portion of saidresource rate information and said associated resource profileinformation within a single one of said resource records within saiddatabase.
 21. The method of claim 1, wherein said comparing furthercomprises: wherein said resource criteria includes resource profilecriteria and resource rate criteria; and comparing said resource profilecriteria to said resource profile information of select resource profileinformation and said resource rate criteria to said resource rateinformation associated with said select resource profile information.22. The method of claim 1, wherein said comparing further comprises:comparing said resource criteria with select resource profileinformation using matching criteria defining an acceptable amount ofsaid resource criteria that should match said select resource profileinformation.
 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising: modifyingsaid matching criteria to determine new matching resource records; andcalculating new statistical data related to said resource rateinformation included within said new matching resource records.
 24. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said calculating further comprises:calculating said statistical resource-rate data using statisticalcriteria indicating a type of said statistical resource-rate data tocalculate.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein said calculating furthercomprises: receiving said statistical criteria from a user requestingsaid statistical resource-rate data and providing said resourcecriteria; and calculating said statistical resource-rate data using saidstatistical criteria.
 26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:modifying said statistical criteria to determine new matching resourcerecords; and calculating new statistical data related to said resourcerate information included within said new matching resource records. 27.The method of claim 1, wherein said comparing further comprises:modifying said resource criteria to determine new matching resourcerecords; and calculating new statistical data related to said resourcerate information included within said new matching resource records. 28.The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing criteria selectiondata to a user to select from; and receiving said resource criteriaselected from said criteria selection data from the user.
 29. The methodof claim 28, wherein said providing criteria selection data furthercomprises: providing said criteria selection data as pre-configuredresource criteria options; and receiving said resource criteria as oneof said pre-configured resource criteria options.
 30. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the requestor is one of the plurality of businessentities.
 31. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource profileinformation comprises a resource type for each of the plurality ofresources.
 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the resource type isselected from the group consisting of full-time employee, staffsupplementation contractor, project work contractor, independentcontractor and contingent worker.
 33. A computer-program productcomprising a non-transitory computer-usable medium havingcomputer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readableprogram code adapted to be executed to implement a method comprising:collecting a plurality of resource rate information identifyingcompensation information for a plurality of resources from a pluralityof actual-market-rate sources, the plurality of actual-market-ratesources comprising a plurality of business entities that employ at leasta portion of the plurality of resources; associating each of saidplurality of resource rate information with resource profileinformation; wherein said resource profile information is organized intoa plurality of resource profiles, each resource profile hierarchicallydefining at least a job category and skills; wherein, for at least aportion of the resource profile information, the associating comprisesassociating therewith resource rate information for more than one of theplurality of resources; storing each of said plurality of resource rateinformation, said associated resource profile information, and a date ina resource record within a database, the database comprising a pluralityof resource records; and receiving a request for statisticalresource-rate data from a requestor, the request comprising resourcecriteria; wherein the resource criteria comprises a date span andprofile information defined according to a structure of the plurality ofresource profiles; comparing the resource criteria to each of theplurality of resource records to determine one or more matching resourcerecords; calculating the statistical resource-rate data based on the oneor more matching resource records; analyzing resource records in thedatabase to determine whether one or more of said resource recordsshould be updated, said resource records associated with said actualmarket rate sources being updated within a pre-configured time periodafter creation thereof; requesting updated resource profile informationand updated resource rate information to update said one or moreresource records; storing said updated resource profile information andsaid updated resource rate information within said one or more resourcerecords; providing a penalty message to a user associated with said oneor more resource records to be updated when said updated resourceprofile information and said updated resource rate information is notreceived; and preventing the requestor from receiving requestedinformation unless resource rate information is provided by therequestor.